THE MEMORY OF YOU - Jamie Beck
A Sanctuary Sound Novel , Book 1
Montlake Romance
ISBN: 9781503903418
November 2018
Contemporary Romance

Sanctuary Sound, Connecticut – Present Day

After a vicious mugging leaves Steffi Lockwood recovering from injuries, she returns to her childhood home on the Connecticut coast to start over. She and her best friend, Claire, have started a home remodeling business and need just about any job that they can get. Despite Steffi's misgivings, she arrives at the home of her ex high school sweetheart's parents for a job bid. To her surprise, her ex, Ryan Quinn, is also there. He's recently separated from his wife and has moved home with his little girl for financial reasons. Meeting Ryan again isn't a pleasant reunion because of how their relationship ended, but Steffi does agree to take the remodeling job. Will this give her a chance to repair her relationship with Ryan? But Steffi still fears closeness as a result of her mugging.

Now a public defender, Ryan is also starting over in his childhood hometown. Seeing Steffi again brings back bad memories of her literally abandoning their relationship. After initially rebuffing her, his anger towards her goes down and a truce is called. But the more they're around each other, the greater the chance that their feelings for each other will be revived. However, Ryan has to be careful because he has a daughter to consider and he fears that Steffi will once again break things off between them. Then there are the unexplained blackouts that Steffi is experiencing… 

In THE MEMORY OF YOU by Jamie Beck, it is best to come right out and tell readers what is going on with Steffi. During the mugging, she blacked out and doesn't remember much of what happened. During the course of this story, readers sense her blackouts and “brain freezes” are because of something else that happened and they would be right. Steffi doesn't remember that she was apparently raped and her mind has blocked that out of her mind. I only mention this because for some readers this might be a painful subject and the author is upfront about the matter in her preface. But THE MEMORY OF YOU is more than just about the sexual assault aftermath. It's finding love again with the one you never forgot.

Ryan and Steffi once thought they'd be together forever, but after she started to feel “smothered” by his requests for her to live near him rather than let her spend time abroad, she “ghosted” him. Ghosting is the practice of ending a relationship suddenly and without explanation. For this reason, they never discussed her feelings, nor attempted to resolve them. It has, however, left hard feelings between them. Ryan is still angry at her and she slowly tries to explain to him the reasons why she did what she did. Lack of trust is huge. 

Add in Ryan's little girl who wants her parents to reunite, and readers will see that they'll have a hard time to make things work out. THE MEMORY OF YOU is a tough emotional read but one that I highly recommend. The relationship between Ryan and Steffi slowly rebuilds, even as he juggles raising his daughter and dealing with a demanding ex-wife. When he learns that Steffi might have been raped, their confrontation is emotionally charged. Does he do the right thing? Grab a hanky and hold on tight. Be sure to check out THE MEMORY OF YOU at Amazon for romance with an edge. 

Patti Fischer